Fabulous trail, although it was almost 6 strenuous miles, and we haven't done one of those for a while...so we are back in the Chinook, nursing sore feet! It was worth it, though. The Tunnel Creek Trail is beautiful, about 10 miles off of Hwy. 101, in the Buckhorn Wilderness area of the Olympic National Forest. We were expecting a level hike, and it was definitely not that: Steep. Snow (!!) on the trail. And even a tree down across the trail that made it difficult to maneuver around. But we made it to the historic (renovated) shelter, and went even further to the footbridge (which was basically a huge tree, flattened on one side, with a railing attached) to take in all the creek's rushing beauty, before returning, hobbling a bit, to the trailhead. It was a wonderful day!
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| The road on the way to the trailhead |
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| A salmonberry and a salmonberry bloom, next to the creek |
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| First views of Tunnel Creek, along the trail |
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| Flora, along the trail |
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| Flora, along the trail |
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| Unexpected snow on the trail |
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| We finally (after 2.7 miles of ascent!) reached the shelter |
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| My favorite fall along the way |
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| The falls above the footbridge (about a quarter of a mile past the shelter) |
Hope you had a happy Mother's Day!
ReplyDeleteI did!
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